Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1887-09-17
81 ESSs
by H.NDER HAGGARD,
Nuthorot 'Nns soloneoEshupes ss5ks.Ete.

I
very commencement of the rebellion.
For fortnight or more after this flag episode
nothing of any Importance happened, and
then came the news of the crushing defeat az
Laings Mex. At first Silas Croft would noG
! believe the news. "No general could have
been so mad," he said; but soon the report
was amply confirmed from native sources.
Another week passed. and with it came the
news of the British defeat at Ingogo. The
! first they heard of it was on the morning of
Feb. 8, when Jantje brought Kaflir up to
/ the veranda at breakfast time. This Kaftir
said that he had been watching the fight from
mountain; that the English were completely
hemmed in and fighting well, but that their
arms were tired" and that they would all be
killed at night time. The Beers, he said,
were not suffering at all-the English could
not "shoot straight After hearing this they
passed sufficiently miserable day and even
ing. About II o'clock that night, however,
native spy Mr.. Croft had dispatched came
back with the report that the English general
had got safely back to camp, having suffered
heavily and abandoned his wounded, many of
whom had died in the rain, for the night
after the battle was wet
Then came another long pause, during
which no reliable news reached them, though
the air was thick with runors, and old Silas
was made happy by hearing that large re-en-
/ forcements were on their way from England.
"Ah, Bessie, my dear, they will soon sing
another tuno now," he said, in great glee;
"and what's more, it's about time they did.
can't understand what the soldiers have
been about can't indeed"
And so the time wore heavily along till at
last there came dreadful day which Bessie
will never forget as long as she lives 1t was
the Goth of February-just week before the
final disaster at Majuba Hill. Bessie was
standing idly on the veranda, looking down
the long avenue of blue gums, where the
shadows formed a dark network to catch the
wandering rays of light The place looked
! very peaceful, and certainly no one couId
have known from its appearance that a
! bloody war was being waged within Ie"
miles, The kaffirs came and went about
their work as usual, or made pretense TO- Dut
now and then a close observer might see them
stop and look toward the Drakensberg and
then say a few words to their neighbor about
the wonderful thing that had come to pass
that the Beers were beating the great white
people who came out of the sea and shook
the earth with their tread. Whereon the
neighbor would take the opportunity to relax
from toll and squat down and have pinch
of snuff and relate in what particular collec-
/ ton of rocks on the hillside he and his wives
slept the last night, for when the Beers are
out on commando the katiirs will not sleep
in their huts for fear of being surprised and
shot down. Then the pair would spend half
an hour or so in speculating on what would be
their fate when the Beers had eaten up the
Engishmen and taken back the country, and
finally came to the conclusion that they had
better emigrate to Natal
Bessie, OF the veranda, noted all this gong
on every now and again catching snatches
of the lazy rascals' talk, which chlmed In put
too sadly with her own thoughts turning
from it impatiently, she began to watch the
hens marching solemnly about the drive, fol-
lowed by their broods. This picture, too,
had a sanguinary background, for under an
orange tree two rival cocks were fighting
furiously. They always did this about once
a week, nor did they cease from troubling
till each retired, temporarily blinded, to the
shade of a separate orange tree, where they
spent the rest of the week i'll recovering, only
to emerge when the cure was effected and
fight their battles over again. Meanwhile
third cock young in years but old i'll wisdom,
who steadily refused to fight when attacked,
looked after the hens i'll dispute. To-day the
fight was particularly ferocious, and fearing
that the combatants would have no eyes LETT
at all if she did not interfere, Bessie called to
the old Boer hound who was lying i'll the sun
OH the veTanda: =,
"Hi, Stomp, Stomp-hunt them, StompW
Up Jumped Stomp and made prodigious
show of furiously attacking the embattleo
| cocks; it was an operation to which be was
used, and which afforded him constant
amusement Suddenly, however, as he
dashed toward the trees he stopped midway,
] n. nd InCfn n1
expression of real disgust came upon his
honest face. Then the hair along his back
bone stood up like the quilts upon the fretful
porcupine, and he growled.
"A strange Kaffir, / expect" said Bessie to
herself
Stomp hated strange Kaffirs. She had
scarcely got the words out before they were
justified by the appearance OF native. he
was villainous looking fellow, with one eye,
and nothing on but pair of ragged trousers
fastened round the waist with a greasy
leather strap In his wool, however, were
stuck several small distended bladders, such
as are generally worn by medicine men and
witch doctors In his left hand he held a
long stick cleft at the end. In the cleft was
q letter.
"Come here, Stomp" said Bessie, and as
she did so a wild hope shot across her heart
like meteor across the night; perhaps the
letter was from John.
The dog obeyed her unwilling!y enough,
for he evidently did not like that Kaffir; and
when he saw that Stomp was well out of the
way tho Kaffir himself followed. He was
an insolent fellow, and took no notice of Bes-
sic beyond squatting himself down upon the
drive in front of her.
"What is its" said Bessie, in Dutch, her lips
trembling as she spoke.
"a letter." answered the man.
"Give it to me-"
"No. missile, not till have looked at you to
see if it is right Light yellow hair that
curls-one," checking it on his fingers, Eyes,
that is right; large blue eyes-two, that is
riaut; big and tall, and fair as a star-yes,
the letter is for you take it" and he poked